Gaming Posts - Page 80

Has one of those next gen games finally caught your eye? Or maybe all of your friends are talking about their new PCs and favorite online games and you want to get involved? Regardless of the reason, here are some helpful tips when setting out to buy a gaming computer.

1) Functionality:

First ask yourself: Am I a casual gamer or a hardcore gamer? It's the same question as: What do I want this computer to do? Is it simply a gaming console or will it be an everyday machine that your kids and wife will use to check email and Facebook? The reason you need to answer these questions is gaming PCs have hardware that may not be necessary unless you're going to run your games at optimal graphic settings.

If you're a casual gamer, forgo high-end video cards; although they are the best on the market, they limit you to a desktop machine. As a new PC gamer, there are plenty of options that have the hardware to play games, but also have the proper functionality for everyday stuff at a reasonable price.

2) The Games Matter:

The games you're interested in make a big difference when it comes to the computer you should get. If you're looking to run optimal graphics, sound, shading, etc. while playing Battlefield Hardline you might want a high-end video card. This isn't to say you won't be able to play without it, but all games have specified minimum requirements as well as recommended requirements. It should be noted that some games don't run well on minimum requirement machines, so it's a good idea to exceed these requirements, if possible.

Popular Aussie tech evangelist to the 'mainstream', gamer and cosplayer, Rae Johnston has recently been snapped up by Allure Media - she's been seen around various media entities including being on TV shows such as 'Mornings' on free-to-air offerings, alongside writing for multiple tech websites scattered around the globe.

Johnston has just completed a TEDx talk about gaming and social media in TEDx Ultimo, claiming that "Avatars Are People Too" - touching on a few points of interest and giving her own impressions on them.

Often it's a pretty heated debate on the internet - "is competitive gaming a real sport?". Well, in more MLG news - they're bringing Valve's popular FPS title Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to the public scene and the television via the X Games and ESPN. This comes to light after we've recently reported on MLG working behind the scenes to run the biggest Dota2 league in history.

Set for kickoff on the 23rd of January 2015, X Games Aspen will be looking for another sell-out audience - seeing eSports now added to the foray of hardcore high-adrenaline sports on offer. This partnership will see MLG.tv team up with the ESPN and ABC to bring this event to the wider audience.

Sundance DiGiovanni, Co-founder and CEO of MLG, commented that "2014 was a breakout year for eSports with the first ever MLG tournament at X Games Austin, millions watching competition on MLG.tv, and more than 71 million people competing in or watching eSports events around the globe," further adding "Our X Games debut was such a success we knew we had to continue the tradition. The MLG X Games Aspen Invitational will further elevate eSports placing our top competitors amongst the best winter athletes in the world and continues to solidify MLG.tv as the leading destination for premium eSports pro gaming."

Featuring a minimum prize pool of $475,000 alongside an offered $90,000 worth of player travel support, joinDOTA have teamed up with Major League Gaming (MLG) to build the world's largest Dota 2 league.

Coming off the back of an extremely successful 'International' held by the game developer Valve in 2014, seeing over $10m in prize money being given out to the competing teams alongside free travel and hotel arrangements, joinDOTA and MLG are trying to step up the game - offering a long-standing tournament for many teams to compete in.

Claimed to take "competitive Dota 2 to the next level," their recently issued press release states that this World Championship event follows on from the renewal of the joinDOTA league. Teams who competed in the last 'jDL Division 1' competition will be given the chance to qualify for a spot in the season finals, alongside multiple big-name entities being selected to attend.

These stars include The Walking Dead's Jon Bernthal, John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, and Rose McGowan. Why the new DLC? Exo Zombies, that's why. Also, probably lots, and lots of money being given to these stars for their time in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Just in time for the holidays, some star-studded Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare DLC.

The new Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 960 is reportedly set for an announcement on January 22, 2015 - a new GPU that would feature a single 6-pin PCIe connector. This means the GeForce GTX 960 would only consume a total of 150W, down from the 165W required on the high-end GeForce GTX 980. We should see third-party cards from the likes of ZOTAC, ASUS, GIGABYTE and others that will ramp things up with custom coolers and increased power requirements, but the reference GTX 960 will sip between 100-120W with a total TDP of 150W.

Where things will get interesting is how competitive NVIDIA prices the GTX 960 in the market, where we should expect a price in the US of between $200-$250, which should begin to push AMD up against the wall. AMD has plenty of cards in the mid-range GPU market, with the Radeon R9 285, R9 280, and then the slightly more expensive R9 280X and R9 290s, but NVIDIA could really start taking away some of those Radeon sales with this new GeForce GTX 960. Especially if it could release it at $199, it could be the card to buy for the first half of 2015.

Valve may have kicked off its annual Steam Holiday Sale, but Green Man Gaming is becoming a bigger gaming sale force to be reckoned with, with their new Green Grogre holiday sale.

The digital games retailer has a slew of games on sale, which include Alien: Isolation for $25 and The Evil Within for $20.39. Total War: Rome 2 Emperor Edition is on sale for just $14.98, too. You can also jump on the massive Half-Life Complete Edition, or Tomb Raider Franchise compilations, both of which have a huge 75% off.

Green Man Gaming is running their Green Grogre holiday sale from now through to January 2, with various games to go on sale on a rotation.

Dan Bovey has spent considerable time rebuilding the massive mega-mansion, with a close to shot-for-shot comparison between the recreated one in Minecraft, and the real $70 million mansion. Impressive stuff!

Capcom has announced that the upcoming PlayStation 4 and PC exclusive Street Fighter 5 is being built around Epic Games' very gorgeous Unreal Engine 4 technology.

Bochan Kim, a Producer with Capcom said in a press release from Epic Games "Our goal with the next generation of Street Fighter is to take our beloved fighting game franchise and bring it to our fans in the best way possible. In order to fully deliver on that promise, we know we have to incorporate the latest and greatest technology available, which is why we partnered with Epic Games to power Street Fighter V using Unreal Engine 4." Territory Manager of Epic Games Japan, Taka Kawasaki said "This opportunity to help the development team using Unreal Engine 4 for the new title is a great honor for Epic, and I couldn't be more proud."

Fighting games seem to be adopting Unreal Engine 4 more, with Bandai Namco announcing back in July that Tekken 7 would be powered by Unreal Engine 4. Expect the Unreal Engine 4-powered Street Fighter 5 to hit the PS4 and PC sometime next year, which will support cross-platform play between the PS4 and PC.